Debt Ceiling Agreement

Late Sunday night, President Obama and Congressional leaders agreed to a deal to raise the debt ceiling, preventing the government from a potentially catastrophic credit default. The deal raises the debt ceiling through 2012 while making immediate cuts to discretionary spending and creating a special Joint Committee of Congress to propose a plan for further deficit reduction. The House and Senate passed the measure, and the president is expected to sign it on Tuesday afternoon.

While the potential consequences of an unprecedented government default would have been far more devastating for low-income Americans, Second Harvest North Central Food Bank along with Feeding America remains deeply concerned about the potential impact this deal would have on nutrition assistance and other safety-net programs.

Although much uncertainty remains, one thing is clear—the need to effectively communicate the importance of protecting federal nutrition programs is more important than ever.

As a result of the debt ceiling agreement, we will need everyone involved with hunger relief—food banks, clients, local agencies, the government, board members, donors, and partners—to help us carry our message.

Government shutdown will impact those already in need

When the Minnesota state government shut down on July 1st, hungry individuals in our community were put at even greater risk of hunger.

• Unemployment rates will temporarily increase, putting extra strain on families.
• Some Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sites are being forced to close, as the host schools rely on government funding to run summer programs.
• Meal programs that rely on government funding are being forced to shut down.

You can help ease the strain on affected families by:

• Fundraising on behalf of Second Harvest North Central Food Bank or another local hunger-relief organization.
• Make your donation online.
• Spreading the word about the shutdown impact on Minnesota families on Facebook or Twitter. Use hashtag #mnshutdown to track the conversation.
• Donate food to your local food shelf.

Feel free to contact Second Harvest North Central Food Bank with any questions. Thank you for your support during this particularly difficult time for so many of our neighbors.

Summer Hunger is Right Here



Clients wait for the Food Sheld to open its doors.


A year ago, the Grand Rapids Food Shelf extended days of operation from two days a week to five to accommodate for the continued increase of people in need-a reality that is showing no improvement this summer. Considering the unemployment rate for Grand Rapids is more than twice that of the state average, the need is great.  
Today, Second Harvest North Central Food Bank and the Grand Rapids Food Shelf help launch the Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless $100,000 Summer Challenge Grant. This means your donation to the Grand Rapids Food Shelf this July will have an even bigger impact because the challenge grant will proportionately match all donations made during the month of July. This is vitial to the Food Shelf in order to keep food on the shelves.
 
Click here to make a secure online donation.

Action is Still Needed to Secure More TEFAP in FY2011

We learned earlier this week that USDA is making $50 million available for the purchase of a variety of canned, frozen, and fresh fruits and vegetables and juices. These products will be distributed through TEFAP and will have estimated delivery dates betweek September 2011 and March 2012. Each state will be provided with their fair share of funding, and will be able to order from a menu of products which include tomato sauce, corn, carrots, green beans, peaches, pears, cranberry juice, orange juice, blueberries, potatoes, and oranges. This purchase is being made to satisfy a requirement in the 2012 Farm Bill that USDA purchase $401 million worth of "specialty crops" (i.e., fruits and vegetables) in FY2011.

While we are incredibly thankful for USDA made the decision to allocate this funding for the purchase of much needed TEFAP commodities, much more help is going to be needed to shore up supplies of TEFAP commoditeis nationwide. The inclusion of these products brings total FY11 spending on TEFAP up to $360 million. However, that still level of spending is still approximately $295 million -- or 45% -- below the FY2010 spending level.

As was announced last week, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and Representative Marcia Fudge (D-OH) are circulating sign-on letters in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, urging Secretary Vilsack to use his administrative authority to direct funds to increase the availability of TEFAP commodities in FY2011.

With our network food banks poised to see a significant decline in the amount of TEFAP commodities received in FY2011, it is critical that all supporters of Feeding America food banks contact their Members of Congress to tell them about the importance of TEFAP and urge them to sign on in support of this letter.

A Campaign for a Hunger-Free Minnesota

Today is the official launch of Hunger-Free Minnesota, a statewide movement to close the gap of 100 million missing meals in our state.
You, your co-workers, volunteers and clients all will be positively affected by Hunger-Free Minnesota. It’s a three-year campaign with an action plan designed to focus on three areas of meal delivery:

• Increase annual meal delivery in the emergency food network by 50 million meals
• Increase access in the SNAP/Minnesota Food Support Program by 30 million meals
• Increase utilization of infant and child nutrition programs to yield an additional 20 million meals.

Hunger in Minnesota has doubled in five years. One in ten Minnesotans runs out of resources before the end of every month, missing an average of 10 meals every 30 days. That's 100 million meals missed every year, with devastating effects.

Hunger hurts us all. Fight hunger where you live.

For more information please our website or hungerfreemn.org that contains statistics about hunger in Minnesota and information about Hunger-Free Minnesota.